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In this important, controversial, and at times troubling book, Sandra Whitworth looks behind the rhetoric to investigate from a feminist perspective some of the realities of military intervention under the UN flag. Whitworth contends that there is a fundamental contradiction between portrayals of peacekeeping as altruistic and benign and the militarized masculinity that underpins the group identity of soldiers. Examining evidence from Cambodia and Somalia, she argues that sexual and other crimes can be seen as expressions of a violent hypermasculinity that is congruent with militarized identities, but entirely incongruent with missions aimed at maintaining peace. She also asserts that recent efforts within the UN to address gender issues in peacekeeping operations have failed because they fail to challenge traditional understandings of militaries, conflict, and women. This unsettling critique of UN operations, which also investigates the interplay between gender and racial stereotyping in peacekeeping, has the power to change conventional perceptions, with considerable policy implications.

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This book provides an assessment of the legacy, challenges and future directions of Critical Theory in the fields of International Relations and Security Studies. This book provides ‘first-hand’ interviews with some of the pioneers of Critical Theory in the fields of International Relations Theory and Security Studies. The interviews are combined innovatively with reflective essays to create an engaging and accessible discussion of the legacy and challenges of critical thinking. A unique forum that combines first-person discussion and secondary commentary on a variety of theoretical positions, the book explores in detail the interaction between different theories and approaches, including postcolonialism, feminism, and poststructuralism. Scholars from a variety of theoretical backgrounds reflect on the strengths and problems of critical theory, recasting the theoretical discussion about critical theory in the study of world politics and examining the future of the discipline. Both an introduction and an advanced engagement with theoretical developments over the past three decades, Critical Theory in International Relations and Security Studies will be of interest to students and scholars of International Politics, Security Studies and Philosophy.

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The third edition of Jill Steans’ popular and highly respected text offers a comprehensive and up to date introduction to gender in international relations today. Its nine chapters have been fully revised and expanded to cover key issues, developments and debates in the field including: the state and citizenship gender, sexuality and human rights conflict, peace and security narratives and representational practices in international politics global political economy development and gender in global governance Guiding students competently through complex theoretical and conceptual issues, the book is careful to ground its discussions in contemporary concerns, such as the War on Terror and its legacy, the ‘securitisation’ of human rights, the Arab Spring, the global financial crisis, contemporary challenges to global institutions, and ethical dilemmas that arise in negotiating gender issues and politics in a culturally diverse world. Each chapter features questions for reflection, seminar activities, further reading and web links to highlight key points and provide contemporary illustrations. A glossary of key terms is also included for easy reference. Gender and International Relations will be essential reading for students and scholars of gender, international relations, global politics and related courses.

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The United Nations Security Council, in 2000, unanimously passed a resolution calling for women’s increased participation in conflict prevention and peacebuilding, as well as their protection during conflict. This marked the first time that the UN Security Council explicitly addressed gender issues in ‘conflict’ and ‘post-conflict’ situations. But what difference has this international agenda on ‘Women, Peace and Security’ made to women’s lives on the ground and to the governance of international peace and security? This volume provides a critical evaluation of the mainstreaming of gender issues in matters of international peace and security resulting from the passage of Resolution 1325 in 2000. It considers how this agenda actually plays out in different contexts, and with what implications for women’s activism and for peace and security. The picture that emerges is not uniform, obliging us to reconsider the links between gender, conflict, different visions of peace and, consequently, different projects of peacebuilding. Consequently, the book poses new questions for transnational feminist scholars and activists. This book was based on a special issue of the International Feminist Journal of Politics.

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Conveniently structured into five sections, The Routledge Research Companion to Outsourcing Security offers an overview of the different ways in which states have come to rely on private contractors to support interventions. Part One puts into context the evolution of outsourcing in Western states that are actively involved in expeditionary operations as well as the rise of the commercial security sector in Afghanistan. To explain the various theoretical frameworks that students can use to study security/military outsourcing, Part Two outlines the theories behind security outsourcing. Part Three examines the law and ethics surrounding the outsourcing of security by focusing on how states might monitor contractor behaviour, hold them to account and prosecute them where their behaviour warrants such action. The drivers, politics and consequences of outsourcing foreign policy are covered in Part Four, which is divided into two sections: section one is concerned with armed contractors (providing the provision of private security with the main driver being a capability gap on the part of the military/law enforcement agencies), and section two looks at military contractors (supporting military operations right back to antiquity, less controversial politically and often technologically driven). The final Part takes into consideration emerging perspectives, exploring areas such as gender, feminist methodology, maritime security and the impact of private security on the military profession. This book will be of much interest to students of military and security studies, foreign policy and International Relations.

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Ethics is treated in this book not as a set of rules, nor as a topic for philosophical discussion, but as a necessary aspect of political life. The authors analyse ethical controversies as central to global governance, considering the hard moral choices facing states and other actors as they navigate a complex world order.

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Making Gender, Making War is a unique interdisciplinary edited collection which explores the social construction of gender, war-making and peacekeeping. It highlights the institutions and processes involved in the making of gender in terms of both men and women, masculinity and femininity. The "war question for feminism" marks a thematic red thread throughout; it is a call to students and scholars of feminism to take seriously and engage with the task of analyzing war. Contributors analyze how war-making is intertwined with the making of gender in a diversity of empirical case studies, organized around four themes: gender, violence and militarism; how the making of gender is connected to a (re)making of the nation through military practices; UN SCR 1325 and gender mainstreaming in institutional practices; and gender subjectivities in the organization of violence, exploring the notion of violent women and non-violent men.